the next year to twenty-seven thousand, and
was only twelve thousand in 1847. Shanghae,
little tried in 1844, was soon found to be by
far the best of the five ports. It is near the
tea districts, the inhabitants are very friendly,
and the ships can ride close under the town.
The value of British trade at Shanghae was
represented by about two millions in the year
1845, but in 1847 it had not increased. At
the end of the first four years after the
ratification of our commercial treaty with China,
the exports and imports had not increased at
all, but were in the last year of the period a
hundred and thirty-five thousand, nine
hundred and twenty-eight pounds less than in the
first. Perhaps when the treaty comes to be
revised, we may get another port or two in
place of the stagnating Ning-po, and the
stagnant Foo-chow-foo. At present, however,
it is very certain that the commercial gain
to this country following upon our war with
China has yet to be realized. We are scarcely
richer for the cannonading of the mat-forts
and the sinking of the nutshell fleets; let us
turn now to the Chinese, and see how much
they are the better for our European lessons
from the cannon's mouth.

We have spoken of the arming of large
masses of the Chinese people into a militia,
and of the prostration of the powers of the
Chinese government. The leaders of the
popular force against the English at Canton,
trained their followers and instituted
democratic assemblages for the discussion of state
matters, and re-organisation of measures of
defence. They who entered these associations
no longer obeyed the government officers, but
their own chiefs. They were powerful enough
to expel Yu, the Prefect of Canton, from his
office, and they were indignant at the treaty
of Nanking. They set fire to the British
factories. They attacked the American quarter
because the American representative had put
an arrow as a vane upon his flagstaff, and the
superstitious people took it for a charm to
produce sickness in any direction to which it
might point. The North-western provinces
were permitted to join the armed association.
A year after the peace, Chinkentsae inquired
into the state of the associated peasantry, and
reported to the emperor that their means
were so perfect, and their preparations were
so complete that nothing need be apprehended
for the future. The names of leaders were
transmitted to Pekin, with an offer from the
South-eastern districts to form a similar
association. The offer was graciously received,
and the whole movement assisted to the
utmost. The central society at Canton met
in a hall belonging to the temple of Confucius,
received reports from corresponding societies,
and formed, in fact, an independent league.

The excesses of the populace of Canton
caused an armed visit in 1847, which placed
the inhabitants of the English quarter on a
more comfortable footing, and led to the
blocking up of "Hog Lane," a street of
hovels through which the rioters had been
accustomed to penetrate, and through which
the British quarter was fired in 1843.
In addition to the popular associations
called into existence by the exigencies of the
war, there have long existed in China secret
societies, under such names as "The Triad,"
"The Water Lily," &c., with the professed
object of restoring the Ming dynasty. These
societies have mystic rules and a conventional
language; they bind their members to close
fellowship and secrecy; in many districts
they have long since degenerated into bands
of outlawed men and robbers, although they
all originated in patriotic motives. The
members of these societies, pricking their
fingers, smeared themselves with blood when
they were initiated, and swore never to
abandon their principles and objects, to
restore the Chinese empire, be revenged upon
the Tartars, reveal no common secrets to
their nearest kindred, and be brothers to one
another. By the help of these societies, riots
and troubles have been excited at different
times in all parts of China, since the close of
the war with us revealed the weakness of the
government; but the worst troubles have
arisen in the southern provinces. Banditti
increased; and the militia raised by the people
to resist them, being raised out of their own
funds, the people used their arms also in
disputing the right of the government to taxes
for a defence which it was unable to afford.

The old emperor, Taou-kwang, was an
emperor in difficulties. To the exhausting
expenses of the war were added the twenty-
one million of dollars payable for peace to
England. The government had already
forestalled a large part of its revenues, trade had
been impeded on the beleaguered coast, the
receipt of customs was diminished, while the
people, hindered in their peaceful occupations,
were less able to pay taxes than ever, to say
nothing at all of their general unwillingness,
and power to dispute the claims of the
collectors. The misery was heightened by the
accident of an unusually wet year. The
Yang-tse-kiang and Yellow Rlver flooded
several provinces; in Honan the floods swept
away the walls of the metropolis, Kae-
foong-foo. There were no funds to apply for
public works of drainage; nothing was done
towards repairing the injury inflicted; the
devastated land was thrown out of use; no
land-tax—the chief source of Chinese
revenue—could be levied on it; and the
occupants were left to complain loudly of
neglect.

The Emperor in difficulties, endeavouring
to levy funds for payment of the expense
incurred by England in the Chinese war, then
called for patriotic aids from wealthy people,
and gave to them in return nominal rank,
and distinctions of etiquette. This system
succeeded for a time; but as the number
who obtained distinction in this way multiplied
the nominally distinguished became so